flames v. 'hawks game 3: absences

i've got the sniffles so i haven't really felt like writing much lately. not to mention i've been really putting some time and effort into researching an upcoming piece and get so worked up about it that i can't really think about writing anything else.

oh, and i've discarded optimism and walked back into the warm open arms of my friend pessimism... so i didn't really have a whole lot to say pre-game yesterday. additionally, i thought i'd try a new thing and not post on a gameday, to see what would happen. this stupidstition, thanks to a big ol' flames win last night, will continue (so don't expect to see a gameday post), and why i will have to wear the jrXL jersey to the game tomorrow night....

a lot of talk today about the burrish crosscheck on bourque. it looks like the stick breaks over bourque's shoulder, not "his face" as keenan seemed to think... perhaps it's posturing/gamesmanship by the coach, perhaps bourque is legitimately injured (either from that play or another), or maybe keenan didn't realize bourquey already had the big ol'red scar when he saw him after game 3 and presumed:

a) it was caused by burrish
b) it defined an "injury"



personally, i re-watched the end of the game today and after the incident, bourque doesn't appear to be in any discomfort whatsoever. he proceeds to instigate some pushing and shoving, and then stands around waiting for the refs to figure it out before hitting the dressing room. at no time during this 3-4 minutes did he show any signs of nusring/babying his left clavicle/upper arm. so if the kid is ACTUALLY injured, i would think a re-aggravation of the high ankle sprain, or something that came out of the earlier jostling with seabrook (that sent him to the dressing room mid-game).

other game notes:
- jokinen, at some point, decided that he DOES want to play for calgary and the ensuing portion of the game was actually quite good.
- kiprusoff didn't play like miikka turek
- bertuzzi played exactly like bertuzzi, except when he tried to gently stop keenan from putting his two cents in at the end of the game. i found this to be an extremely fascinating moment; i could not have imagined ANY player trying (even momentarily) to get their coach to pause and reconsider an upcoming outburst. and with his history, bertuzzi would certainly not have topped that list... this considerate action, however, implies a relationship much closer than coach/player to me (i would suggest perhaps they have dinner with each others' families). very strange, indeed....
- kent over at matchsticks and gasoline refers to the big boys as "money forwards," which i quite like as a term. those guys were average and boring last night (jokinen and bourque excepted). the lower-six (glenX, moss & conroy specifically) were OUT-freaking-STANDING. hopefully we can keep it up....
- khabibulin had an off game. we cannot expect this every night.
- nice hit by dion on toews. except dion needs to learn that after a hit, you gotta turn around and join the play. standing over the opposing captain admiring your kill (and probably talking fairly loudly about it to the dude on the ice) does not IN ANY WAY prevent havlat from scoring on a 2-on-1. it's true vandy played it all wrong, but his partner was easily 5 strides behind....

do i need to point out that, when calgary was down towards the end of game2 in chicago, there was no needless end-of-game shenanigans. classy ? hmmm....

also, i feel i should point out that i think pj stock's playoff beard is starting to come in nicely....